Just choose a side, so to speak, and don't be afraid to run with it, that's my take. Hopefully next week's "series changing" episode will mark the turning point.

Spoiler for Hiden:

So any theories on Sky? Alien? Phoenix? Skrull?

Spoiler for Hiden:

That guy that saved her indicated she had super powers as a baby, but so far she hasn't shown any off. My guess is she is some sort of alien, and the "series changing" event will be showing off what her powers are.

Logged

" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

I think the show has been really coming together in the past few episodes. Initially, the lack of Marvel stuff was disappointing, but it's actually allowed them to start building an interesting world of their own. Between their own creations like The Clairvoyant and Raina and the use of obscure Marvel villains like Graviton and Blizzard, the show is building its own world and I don't really mind not having the more well-known Marvel stuff. If they can keep this up, and we eventually get the payoffs for all the things for which they're laying the groundwork, the show has the potential to be something really special.

Logged

"Why did the chicken cross the Mobius strip? To get to the same side." - The Big Bang Theory

I think the show has been really coming together in the past few episodes. Initially, the lack of Marvel stuff was disappointing, but it's actually allowed them to start building an interesting world of their own. Between their own creations like The Clairvoyant and Raina and the use of obscure Marvel villains like Graviton and Blizzard, the show is building its own world and I don't really mind not having the more well-known Marvel stuff. If they can keep this up, and we eventually get the payoffs for all the things for which they're laying the groundwork, the show has the potential to be something really special.

That is pretty much how Ive viewed the entire series. I think if people allow the show to be what the producers want it to be, instead of what they wanted it to be, they just may find a great show. It really does look likes its building up a nice head of steam and I think its going to pay off, entertainment wise.

What if the Clairvoyant wasn't the big bad this season and Quinn was? Then I thought the Clairvoyant could be the big bad for season 2. But season 2 would be ending right about the time of the Avengers 2. So what if the Clairvoyant was Ultron? Perhaps it was a data sifting supercomputer (maybe with some alien technology incorporated into it) for a NSA type agency that achieved sentience. All these efforts could be directed toward creating the perfect body to house it. Probably a bridge too far, but it struck me as interesting

It comes back for one episode and then it's gone for another 3 weeks? I can see where that might work against building/keeping an audience.

The "origin of Skye" subplot was wearing out its welcome; I just didn't care. Now that we have her backstory I hope that the payoff is not equally long and drawn-out.

Not sure why but Ive noticed a number of shows are doing that this year. Sleepy Hollow only has a few episodes left in its season and they'll be done. It seems like TV land has decided that there is no actual TV season any longer. They just throw the shows at you when its convenient and hope you have a DVR I guess.

It comes back for one episode and then it's gone for another 3 weeks? I can see where that might work against building/keeping an audience.

The "origin of Skye" subplot was wearing out its welcome; I just didn't care. Now that we have her backstory I hope that the payoff is not equally long and drawn-out.

Not sure why but Ive noticed a number of shows are doing that this year. Sleepy Hollow only has a few episodes left in its season and they'll be done. It seems like TV land has decided that there is no actual TV season any longer. They just throw the shows at you when its convenient and hope you have a DVR I guess.

Yeah, I was surprised when Sleepy Hollow announced its 2 hour season finale after last week's episode. The show is doing well, too (it was the first renewed for next year, IIRC). It seems odd to me to leave it out of the public's mind for something what could be 9 or 10 months (Fox tends to kick its Fall season off late).

Maybe we're switching to a 3 season schedule now. What used to be Fall, Mid and Summer could shift with shorter seasons that pop up more frequently.

That's pretty much already happened. The schedules have been going in strange ways for a while, mostly in reaction to the crazy popular "Reality" shows, but now it just seems to be a new way of doing things overall.

Deathlok, whoa!!!!!! And Skye is.... Illyria?!?! She was kind of blue wasn't she? Kidding!!! Or will she die and her body be sent in that chamber to the bottom of the ocean, only to be reborn as a.... phoenix?!?! Also kidding, yeah yeah they can't use X-characters. Soooo I searched around and didn't see any other interesting theories, besides one saying she is Lady Sif's daughter (fallen from the "sky").

I don't get the "season changing" description - if she had actually died I could see it being a game changer, but she wasn't dead and her story is far from complete so it's not that big a deal is it? I guess everyone on the team is super pissed their precious little Skye got stabbed so now the show will be "darker"? Or was the big thing Deathlok? As much as I like them, I think a more dramatic turn would have been to actually kill off either Fitz or Simmons, possibly making room for a cooler character to join them. Kind of like when 7 of 9 joined Voyager or Dark Wesley joined Angel.

Also read more about Bill Pullman coming in, as well as Lady Sif (aka Jessi XY) guest starring soon too! So the "back half" of the show looks like it could be pretty exciting.

The unfortunate WTF news is apparently the next episode airs in March, so it looks like the idiotic tools at ABC are trying to Lost-fuck the show's ratings/fans. (Hey did I just coin a cool new term?) Hey, we've got an episodic show that relies heavily on plot points happening from episode to episode, so... let's air them one at a time randomly each month!!!!! So aggravating.

Deathlok, whoa!!!!!! And Skye is.... Illyria?!?! She was kind of blue wasn't she? Kidding!!! Or will she die and her body be sent in that chamber to the bottom of the ocean, only to be reborn as a.... phoenix?!?! Also kidding, yeah yeah they can't use X-characters. Soooo I searched around and didn't see any other interesting theories, besides one saying she is Lady Sif's daughter (fallen from the "sky").

I don't get the "season changing" description - if she had actually died I could see it being a game changer, but she wasn't dead and her story is far from complete so it's not that big a deal is it? I guess everyone on the team is super pissed their precious little Skye got stabbed so now the show will be "darker"? Or was the big thing Deathlok? As much as I like them, I think a more dramatic turn would have been to actually kill off either Fitz or Simmons, possibly making room for a cooler character to join them. Kind of like when 7 of 9 joined Voyager or Dark Wesley joined Angel.

Also read more about Bill Pullman coming in, as well as Lady Sif (aka Jessi XY) guest starring soon too! So the "back half" of the show looks like it could be pretty exciting.

The unfortunate WTF news is apparently the next episode airs in March, so it looks like the idiotic tools at ABC are trying to Lost-fuck the show's ratings/fans. (Hey did I just coin a cool new term?) Hey, we've got an episodic show that relies heavily on plot points happening from episode to episode, so... let's air them one at a time randomly each month!!!!! So aggravating.

I imagine this episode was team/season/story changing, but we haven't seen exactly how just yet, only that the ball is in motion.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think we'll see some kind of power develop from Skye now that she's in that chamber.

Knowing that Sif is coming in a future ep makes that Sif's daughter theory pretty respectable, I have to say.

Deathlok, whoa!!!!!! And Skye is.... Illyria?!?! She was kind of blue wasn't she? Kidding!!! Or will she die and her body be sent in that chamber to the bottom of the ocean, only to be reborn as a.... phoenix?!?! Also kidding, yeah yeah they can't use X-characters. Soooo I searched around and didn't see any other interesting theories, besides one saying she is Lady Sif's daughter (fallen from the "sky").

I don't get the "season changing" description - if she had actually died I could see it being a game changer, but she wasn't dead and her story is far from complete so it's not that big a deal is it? I guess everyone on the team is super pissed their precious little Skye got stabbed so now the show will be "darker"? Or was the big thing Deathlok? As much as I like them, I think a more dramatic turn would have been to actually kill off either Fitz or Simmons, possibly making room for a cooler character to join them. Kind of like when 7 of 9 joined Voyager or Dark Wesley joined Angel.

Also read more about Bill Pullman coming in, as well as Lady Sif (aka Jessi XY) guest starring soon too! So the "back half" of the show looks like it could be pretty exciting.

The unfortunate WTF news is apparently the next episode airs in March, so it looks like the idiotic tools at ABC are trying to Lost-fuck the show's ratings/fans. (Hey did I just coin a cool new term?) Hey, we've got an episodic show that relies heavily on plot points happening from episode to episode, so... let's air them one at a time randomly each month!!!!! So aggravating.

I imagine this episode was team/season/story changing, but we haven't seen exactly how just yet, only that the ball is in motion.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think we'll see some kind of power develop from Skye now that she's in that chamber.

Knowing that Sif is coming in a future ep makes that Sif's daughter theory pretty respectable, I have to say.

Well I don't know the whole Marvel mythos, but I expect Skye to become a cyborg or alien-human hybrid or something equally superheroic. Not spoilering that since it's just speculation.

Deathlok, whoa!!!!!! And Skye is.... Illyria?!?! She was kind of blue wasn't she? Kidding!!! Or will she die and her body be sent in that chamber to the bottom of the ocean, only to be reborn as a.... phoenix?!?! Also kidding, yeah yeah they can't use X-characters. Soooo I searched around and didn't see any other interesting theories, besides one saying she is Lady Sif's daughter (fallen from the "sky").

I don't get the "season changing" description - if she had actually died I could see it being a game changer, but she wasn't dead and her story is far from complete so it's not that big a deal is it? I guess everyone on the team is super pissed their precious little Skye got stabbed so now the show will be "darker"? Or was the big thing Deathlok? As much as I like them, I think a more dramatic turn would have been to actually kill off either Fitz or Simmons, possibly making room for a cooler character to join them. Kind of like when 7 of 9 joined Voyager or Dark Wesley joined Angel.

Also read more about Bill Pullman coming in, as well as Lady Sif (aka Jessi XY) guest starring soon too! So the "back half" of the show looks like it could be pretty exciting.

The unfortunate WTF news is apparently the next episode airs in March, so it looks like the idiotic tools at ABC are trying to Lost-fuck the show's ratings/fans. (Hey did I just coin a cool new term?) Hey, we've got an episodic show that relies heavily on plot points happening from episode to episode, so... let's air them one at a time randomly each month!!!!! So aggravating.

I imagine this episode was team/season/story changing, but we haven't seen exactly how just yet, only that the ball is in motion.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think we'll see some kind of power develop from Skye now that she's in that chamber.

Knowing that Sif is coming in a future ep makes that Sif's daughter theory pretty respectable, I have to say.

Well I don't know the whole Marvel mythos, but I expect Skye to become a cyborg or alien-human hybrid or something equally superheroic. Not spoilering that since it's just speculation.

Did anybody else notice Stan Lee's cameo?

Notice it? I'm not sure how you could miss it. They were pimping it in commercials for two weeks and even if you missed those, it wasn't exactly subtly placed.

Cool episode, looks like the show is definitely ramping up for the last batch of episodes, hopefully rewarding those of us that stuck with it so far.

Spoiler for Hiden:

SO what the heck was that thing that Coulson found in the cooler? Was it a half body of one of the aliens from the Avengers movie? And so hypothetically the reason Sky took to the treatment was because she is at least part alien?

What did I just watch? That was the silliest derail I've ever sat through. And in place of scenes from the next episode it looks like they're going to air an extended commercial for upcoming movies. Bleah. With no mention of when SHIELD is supposed to come back.

Not sure who else is still watching, but is it me or has the show finally hit its stride for the past 3 episodes or so?

To me it has, and even the directing had gotten better, with snappier cuts and dialog, well only a bit more.

I fully understand why many people stopped watching, and are skeptical though, it's been a slog. However, things are ramping up, and I guess the whole Captain America movie coming out this week forced an upping of the stakes.

Not sure who else is still watching, but is it me or has the show finally hit its stride for the past 3 episodes or so?

To me it has, and even the directing had gotten better, with snappier cuts and dialog, well only a bit more.

I fully understand why many people stopped watching, and are skeptical though, it's been a slog. However, things are ramping up, and I guess the whole Captain America movie coming out this week forced an upping of the stakes.

I wonder if the TV cast will make cameos in the movie.

I haven't watched this week's episode yet, but it does seem to be getting its groove. Plus Amy Acker is going to be on soon.

Not sure who else is still watching, but is it me or has the show finally hit its stride for the past 3 episodes or so?

To me it has, and even the directing had gotten better, with snappier cuts and dialog, well only a bit more.

I fully understand why many people stopped watching, and are skeptical though, it's been a slog. However, things are ramping up, and I guess the whole Captain America movie coming out this week forced an upping of the stakes.

I wonder if the TV cast will make cameos in the movie.

I haven't watched this week's episode yet, but it does seem to be getting its groove. Plus Amy Acker is going to be on soon.

This weeks episode is probably the best one to date. The cast is finally starting to settle in and the story line really came together. Having Bill Paxton as a featured actor doesn't hurt either.

Spoiler for Hiden:

How cool was it when you saw Deathlock with the infrared, he looked just like the comic book version.

Logged

" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

Very good episode, and it looks like next week's is gonna up the ante even more. I like that they've left you unsure of who you can trust in the show, but one thing's for sure, you can trust in Joss!

Spoiler for Hiden:

Funny when they met the "Clairvoyant" I said to myself "if I were there I'd just say, you didn't predict this! and kill him lol". Of course I imagined it in a more Rick Grimes/Walking Dead/bite his throat out way. I guess I've been watching too much cannibalistic TV. But seriously if someone's going to keep predicting all your moves before they happen you should probably just kill them to be safe. Which is kind of a paradox because if they were truly clairvoyant wouldn't they be able to avoid the events that led to their death, or is it more like Destiny where all they can do is see what's going to happen but not affect it in any way?

After reading some spoilers about how the new Captain America movie will impact Agents of SHIELD, it looks like we're in for every more of a "game-change" than we thought.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Yeah as I was watching the movie all I could think about was wtf is going to happen to the TV show? Are they going to address it head on or pretend that the timing is off and deal with it maybe next season? The articles I've seen seem to imply the former, in which case the entire show should become completely different with SHIELD in complete disarray.

There is so much potential for this show to take a very different direction now, it's going to be really interesting.

I'd say if you haven't been watching and saw/enjoyed what happened in the Captain America movie, it will be worth giving it a chance this Tuesday to see what direction they take.

I'd watch but my procrastinating staff writer's gonna keep me here at work too late. Like George Clooney-as-Batman-said:"This is why Superman works alone."

I'll count on you allies to give me a confidential report in spoiler codes or via PM. Don't worry about spoiling it for me, just wanna know what happened. Yeah I should stop being a Captain America-like fossil who doesn't have a DVR.

I would STRONGLY recommend holding off on watching tonight's episode if you haven't seen Captain America yet. It won't completely ruin the movie, but I think that CA will be more enjoyable without seeing what happens on tonight's SHIELD. They didn't waste any time jumping right into the huge changes that one would expect after seeing The Winter Soldier, and they give up quite a few secrets that would take some of the surprise out of the movie.

Warnings aside, tonight was probably the best episode of AoS so far, and it's pretty awesome to see the way that they're pulling all parts of the Marvel universe together. Now I'm really curious to see what happens next week. At this point, I can totally see AoS setting the stage for the next round of Marvel films...very cool

Just in the first few moments, you can tell that the director that's been holding the show back has finally let the actors cut loose and act. It's like going from George Lucas level quashing of acting talent to something closer to an actual Whedon show.

Let's just hope that the more dire situation they're in leads to a lot more cutting loose like this.

Still have only seen the first few moments of the episode. I saw a late Sunday showing of Winter Soldier just so I could watch AoS.

Quote from: th'FOOL on April 08, 2014, 03:25:27 PM

Spoiler for Hiden:

my money is on Ward being a Hydra agent. Certainly one of the team is going to be, and given his odd shooting of the 'clairvoyant' last episode that would go a long way towards explaining it

Spoiler for Hiden:

And right you are! Geez, the fallout from this is huge over the over Marvel movie and TV continuity. So many good characters being killed off. I mean, I was just starting to like that director woman.

Now sure how Ward is going to fit in to the show from now on, seems he's going to show what's Hydra's doing. That said, it could all still be some crazy ploy by Hand to get an agent inside Hydra, dummy bullets and all that.

It also sounds like they're positioning Agents of SHIELD to basically be the force that rebuilds SHIELD, which will be nice, hopefully they can weave those efforts into the overarching story in the movies.

I was also surprised just how much they spoiled from Captain America The Winter Soldier by the end. Although I suppose anyone still watching the show is likely a fan enough to see the movie opening weekend.

I would STRONGLY recommend holding off on watching tonight's episode if you haven't seen Captain America yet. It won't completely ruin the movie, but I think that CA will be more enjoyable without seeing what happens on tonight's SHIELD. They didn't waste any time jumping right into the huge changes that one would expect after seeing The Winter Soldier, and they give up quite a few secrets that would take some of the surprise out of the movie.

Warnings aside, tonight was probably the best episode of AoS so far, and it's pretty awesome to see the way that they're pulling all parts of the Marvel universe together. Now I'm really curious to see what happens next week. At this point, I can totally see AoS setting the stage for the next round of Marvel films...very cool

Thanks for the warning. I think what I will do is save the rest of the season, then watch them all at once after I see Captain America. Which probably won't happen until it comes out on Blu-Ray.

Logged

" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

I read a recap over at Collider. Sounds cool, though the whole idea that they intentionally made the show arguably milquetoast and dull because they needed to wait for Cap 2 to release first, so that they could then flip a switch and unveil the "real" show is... a remarkably peculiar way of doing/marketing a TV show that's supported by advertisers who can't be happy if the show was purposely made in a way that was going to shed something like 12 million viewers since its high-rated premiere before they could say, "Woah, this is the REAL show! Come back!!!"

I would STRONGLY recommend holding off on watching tonight's episode if you haven't seen Captain America yet. It won't completely ruin the movie, but I think that CA will be more enjoyable without seeing what happens on tonight's SHIELD. They didn't waste any time jumping right into the huge changes that one would expect after seeing The Winter Soldier, and they give up quite a few secrets that would take some of the surprise out of the movie.

Warnings aside, tonight was probably the best episode of AoS so far, and it's pretty awesome to see the way that they're pulling all parts of the Marvel universe together. Now I'm really curious to see what happens next week. At this point, I can totally see AoS setting the stage for the next round of Marvel films...very cool

Thanks for the warning. I think what I will do is save the rest of the season, then watch them all at once after I see Captain America. Which probably won't happen until it comes out on Blu-Ray.

the bad thing is if enough people do this and they notice, they might think nobody likes the show any more. I really wish they would redo how ratings are done.

I would STRONGLY recommend holding off on watching tonight's episode if you haven't seen Captain America yet. It won't completely ruin the movie, but I think that CA will be more enjoyable without seeing what happens on tonight's SHIELD. They didn't waste any time jumping right into the huge changes that one would expect after seeing The Winter Soldier, and they give up quite a few secrets that would take some of the surprise out of the movie.

Warnings aside, tonight was probably the best episode of AoS so far, and it's pretty awesome to see the way that they're pulling all parts of the Marvel universe together. Now I'm really curious to see what happens next week. At this point, I can totally see AoS setting the stage for the next round of Marvel films...very cool

Thanks for the warning. I think what I will do is save the rest of the season, then watch them all at once after I see Captain America. Which probably won't happen until it comes out on Blu-Ray.

the bad thing is if enough people do this and they notice, they might think nobody likes the show any more. I really wish they would redo how ratings are done.

my money is on Ward being a Hydra agent. Certainly one of the team is going to be, and given his odd shooting of the 'clairvoyant' last episode that would go a long way towards explaining it

Nice job on this one!!! I never would have thought they'd go this route, but I kept thinking about it while watching the episode after you wrote this and by the time it got to a few scenes, I kept expecting it to happen... and it did!

Spoiler for Hiden:

When he does the scene about wanting to date Skye, I pretty much guessed he was bad. Otherwise it was just the acting that was bad lol. The chemistry between them is horrible, but that just makes what happened even better.

Loved what they did with the show, they really went balls deep with the connection to the Cap movie. I don't think any TV show has ever done this kind of integration with a movie on this kind of timed scale. It was a bold move but hopefully not a bad one in terms of what they sacrificed to make it happen. Now I can understand why had all those schedule issues, it must have been tough to make sure it was timed well.

my money is on Ward being a Hydra agent. Certainly one of the team is going to be, and given his odd shooting of the 'clairvoyant' last episode that would go a long way towards explaining it

Nice job on this one!!! I never would have thought they'd go this route, but I kept thinking about it while watching the episode after you wrote this and by the time it got to a few scenes, I kept expecting it to happen... and it did!

Spoiler for Hiden:

When he does the scene about wanting to date Skye, I pretty much guessed he was bad. Otherwise it was just the acting that was bad lol. The chemistry between them is horrible, but that just makes what happened even better.

Loved what they did with the show, they really went balls deep with the connection to the Cap movie. I don't think any TV show has ever done this kind of integration with a movie on this kind of timed scale. It was a bold move but hopefully not a bad one in terms of what they sacrificed to make it happen. Now I can understand why had all those schedule issues, it must have been tough to make sure it was timed well.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Yeah, once I saw the movie and realized that the show's 'big bad' arc could easily fit in, it just seemed necessary that one of the team was a Hydra agent. By that point, it was process of elimination: Sky was too easy an answer and too much that happened with her couldn't be explained away (getting shot in the gut, for one); May was obviously going to be a red herring, but just as it seemed obvious that there was a Hydra agent, it also seemed like a good call that Fury had someone in the team acting as his eyes and ears and that May was the likely person for that. Fitz could have potentially been a Hydra agent, moreso than Simmons, but the two of them were well established as being a pair and it would have been a much tougher sell to just one of them as Hydra, and both of them as Hydra seemed unnecessary. Coulson seemed very unlikely, though there might have been some brainwashing involved, however, that would have lessened the impact of having a Hydra agent on the team considerably. Wade was the obvious choice- prior to the show he worked mostly solo and by nature was field operative, and looking at his actions over the last few episodes- especially the killing of the dupe the previous episode- those actions fit in well with a double agent covering up something. Now, Coulson immediately jumped to that conclusion last episode when he threw him into the cage, and based on the way his gaze lingered on Wade as he was walking to the transport I feel he suspected something still (especially considering Garrett was his SO). Add to that the slightly odd way Hand suddenly decided to hand Wade her gun to take care of Garrett, I'm of the mind that Hand really isn't dead, and she and Coulson plotted to get Wade to show his true colors (rather than Wade faking it like I've seen thrown around). Remember, Wade shot Hand and the other two agents with Hand's gun.

All in all, damn awesome way to continue the integrated Marvel U into the small screen. Marvel is taking some really interesting risks this year with stuff and I LOVE it!

The whole time I was watching last night's ep I was like - THIS is what I was expecting and wanting from this show. Moving right alongside the movies with the same urgency, stakes and drama, but at a level that makes sense for non-super-powered folk. I think they missed a really good opportunity to do something crossover-ish with Thor. At bare minimum it would have been cool to see them have to take out that monster/dinosaur thing that got left behind. Obviously it would be difficult to sustain this kind of pace longer-term, and you needed some amount of build up to make the payoff feel more substantial. But... it just seemed like the early episodes were too lackadaisical and almost hesitant to take advantage of their heritage, and this really cost them a large amount of viewers.

I'm afraid it might be too late; it looks like their ratings are just about stagnant and surprisingly they got no boost from the movie, kind of a bummer given how much fun the past couple of weeks have been. I don't even know if an Avengers 2 crossover can save them now.

They might be willing to play the long game on this, considering Disney owns all the pieces to this (ABC, Marvel). Also, they are repeating the episode next week right before the new one, likely to continue to play off of Winter Soldier's continued box office draw.